System and method for payment receipt using 2D code

ABSTRACT

A payment receipt system is provided. The payment receipt system comprises: a receipt management database for managing at least information on the payers who have to pay and the payment amount that the respective payers have to pay for a certain period; and a payee server including an information extracting part for extracting information including the information on the payers and the payment amount from the receipt management database, a code converting part for converting the extracted information into a two-dimensional (2D) code, a bill forming part for making out a bill for payment with the converted 2D code attached thereto, a bill transmitting part for transmitting the bill for payment to a receiver of the payer, and a controller receiving information on the payers who have completed a payment from a financial institution server.

This is a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. §371 ofPCT/KR2006/000125 filed on Jan. 12, 2006, which claims priority fromKorean patent application 10-2005-60931 filed on Jul. 6, 2005, all ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for payment receiptusing a two-dimensional (2D) code, and more particularly, to a systemand method for payment receipt, capable of simplifying a settlementprocess using a bill where a 2D code storing certain information isimprinted.

Generally, the sellers or the service providers have used a billingmethod (hereinafter, referred to as “OCR method”) using an opticalcharacter recognition (OCR) card in order to ask the buyers or theservice-beneficiaries to pay for the provision of material or immaterialgoods, or services, such as electricity, service water, milk, newspaper,security, and so on. A process of the OCR method, in which the sellersor the service providers (hereinafter, referred to as “payee”), whoprovide goods or services, send a bill to the buyer or theservice-beneficiaries (hereinafter, referred to as “payer”), who receivegoods or services, and the payer pays for them, is as follows:

First, the payee makes a contract with an authorized institution such asFinancial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (hereinafter,referred also to as “the FTCI”) for the use of OCR method so that thepayee is assigned a payee code from the FTCI. Also, the payee providesthe FTCI with information on the payers who receive goods or servicesand the like, and is assigned a payer code from the FTCI. In a conditionwhere a payee should bill to a payer, the payee informs the FTCI of thepayment amount for a period by the payer registered in the FTCI.

Then, the FTCI makes out information on the payee, payer, paymentamount, and payment due with OCR codes, imprints them onto OCR sheet,and provides the payee with the OCR sheet as in the form of a bill. Thepayee then transmits the bill with OCR codes to the payer by mail andthe like.

The payer goes to the financial institution while carrying the bill andcash, pays the payment amount with cash to a receiving teller in thefinancial institution, together with presenting the bill, and gets areceipt certifying the payment. The financial institution then providesthe bill received from the payer to the FTCI.

The FTCI receiving the bill reads out the OCR codes printed in the bill,and sorts information of the bill by the payee, payer, and paymentamount. The FTCI provides the financial institution, who has providedthe bill, with information on the payee and the payment amount among thesorted information items, and provides the payee with information on thepayer among the items.

In addition, the financial institution that has received information onthe payee and payment amount from the FTCI remits the payment amount tothe account of a financial institution that the payee has previouslydesignated using a method such as a transfer to an account.

Further, the payee who has received information on the payer from theFTCI compares the payer information received from the FTCI with one thatthe payee has in order to sort the payer who has not paid the paymentamount, so that the payee either sends the payer a separate notice ofarrears, or asks the same payer to pay for the payment while adding theformer payment amount to the next period bill.

However, the OCR method has problems as follows:

First, in order for the payee to use the above mentioned method, thepayee should pay a fee both to FTCI and the financial institution thatreceives the bill. Particularly, since the bill provided from the FTCIis made out through the imprint of OCR ink onto an OCR card, and the OCRcard and the ink are expensive to manufacture, the payee has a burden topay the FTCI a fee including a cost for using an expensive OCR card.Also, in using the OCR method, as seen in the foregoing, many stepsshould be processed. In particular, considerable periods are consumed inprovided an OCR card (a bill for payment) by the financial institutionto the FTCI and in reading-out the OCR card and providing read-outinformation back to the financial institution by the institute. Theprocess period taken between the FTCI and the financial institutionconsequently delays a time to pay the payee the money paid, so that forthe delayed time, money liquidity is decreased, additional financialexpenses occur, and a chance to gain a financial income is lost.

Further, since most time limits for payment are designated tomonth-ends, near the month-ends, the financial institution is crowdedwith the payers trying to complete the payment so that the payers spenda lot of time waiting to complete the payment as well as the financialinstitution may have a burden to increase labor costs due to theexpanding of separate manpower to receive the payment. Furthermore,since the method provides the payee with the bill using an off-linemethod such as mail and the like, it takes a long time to deliver, andthere is a risk of misdelivery. In this case, although there is suchrisk of misdelivery, the payer may totally suffer damage caused bynon-receipt of the bill, so that the payer always has a fear ofsuffering accidental damage as well as the payee may have a complaintfrom the payer.

Meanwhile, in order to solve the problem particularly concerned to thecrowdedness of the financial institution at the ends of the months andto labor cost increase, the financial institutions have recently raisingweight on using an automated teller machine (ATM). In such case, thefinancial institution installs the ATM first at the place where itreceives the payment. Then, when the payer puts into the ATM the billfor payment and the bankbook, or credit or cash card of the payer, theATM reads out information on the payment amount among OCR codes writtento the bill for payment, and withdraws the payment amount from theaccount of the bankbook or the card.

However, even by the method, as similar to the above OCR method, therestill remains the problems in that the payee should pay a fee both tothe financial institution and the FTCI, and it takes a long time untilthe money paid is transferred to the payee. Further, the OCR method hasto use an OCR card, which however, is sensitive to an external damage sothat even by slight damage due to an external shock, the ATM cannotread-out the card. In this case, the payer should pay the payment amountdirectly to the receiving teller in the financial institution.

Further, instead of the prior OCR method, a method for payment receiptusing a 2D code has being recently developed. This method is one thatinstead of transmitting an OCR code made out from the FTCI in itsentirety to the payer, the OCR codes are converted into a 2D code and abill for payment including the converted code is transmitted to thepayee. Then, the payer inputs into the ATM the bill for payment wherethe 2D code is imprinted and the bankbook or the cash or credit card ofthe payer, and the ATM senses the 2D code instead of the prior OCRcodes. The financial institution converts the sensed 2D code informationinto OCR codes, and provides the code to FTCI using wireless or wirecommunication method. Since the bill for payment using 2D code is muchlower in failure rate when the ATM reads out the OCR code, in comparisonwith the prior method using the OCR codes (generally, in case of usingthe OCR codes, 3% or more damage makes the read-out of the codeimpossible, but in case of using the present-known 2D code, even 37%damage can read-out various kinds of information successively.), even incase that the payment receipt is done not directly by the receivingteller but by the ATM, the failure rate for receipt can be considerablyreduced.

However, although using the method, eventually, information sensed fromthe ATM is interpreted into the OCR codes and transmitted to the FTCI,and the OCR codes are interpreted by the FTCI so that proper informationis transmitted to the financial institution and the payee, respectively.Consequently, there still remained the problems of such as duplicate feeboth to the financial institution and the FTCI, requiring a long timeuntil the money paid is transferred to the payee, and a risk ofmisdelivery of the bill due to mail delivery.

Further, in case of the payment receipt method using the OCR codes orthe 2D code, since after the payment receipt, the financial institutionprovides the payee only the personnel details and total money paid ofthe respective payers, the payee cannot obtain information on what itemdid the payer pay. That is, the payee cannot obtain detail informationof the payer, for example, on whether or not the payer who is a fewmonths behind in his dues paid only a portion of the payment amount andon whether or not with the payment the arrearage has been completelyreleased. Accordingly, in order for the payee to obtain detail paymentinformation on the respective payers, the payee should proceed a step ofinputting information written to the OCR card and information on thepayer and the amount of payment which is informed from the financialinstitution, again into a database, and sorting the same, which howeveris a time and labor-consuming working, causing the expenses of thepayer, i.e., the business taxpayer, to be increased.

Furthermore, generally, the sellers or service provider tries to improveefficiency of their company by utilizing a variety of managementprograms, for example, such as tax accounting programs, which calculateand record information on such as sales, tax amount, advance payments,liabilities and so on. However, since the payment receipt system and themanagement system in the prior art are not linked with each other, thesellers or the service provider (the payee) has directly inputtedinformation on the amount of money paid by the payer, i.e., informationon sales, into the management program, and the management program hasoutputted various information on which the business taxpayer demandsusing the inputted information. This method of direct input of variousinformation into the management program makes the time and expenseincreased, and causes various problems such as information input errors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is provided to solve the problems of the abovementioned payment receipt system of the prior art, and an object of thepresent invention is to provide a payment receipt system capable ofminimizing a fee that a payee has to pay to other financial institution.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a payment receiptsystem capable of providing a payee with the money paid as quickly as apayer pays for goods or services.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a paymentreceipt system capable of transmitting a bill for payment in a methodother than mail delivery, which has little risk of misdelivery andcarries out a delivery at a low expense.

Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide apayment receipt system which allows a payee to effectively obtain andsort various information on a payer, thereby reducing the time andexpenses required for obtaining and sorting the same.

Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide apayment receipt system in which payer information provided to a payee isdirectly inter-worked with a management program, thereby reducing thetime and expenses required for operating the management program.

Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide apayment receipt method using the above payment receipt system.

In order to accomplish the above objects of the present invention,according to a first embodiment of an aspect of the present invention,there is provided a payment receipt system comprising: a receiptmanagement database for managing at least information on payers who haveto pay and payment amount that the respective payers have to pay for acertain period; and a payee server including an information extractingpart for extracting information including the information on the payersand the payment amount from the receipt management database, a codeconverting part for converting the extracted information into atwo-dimensional (2D) code, a bill forming part for making out a bill forpayment with the converted 2D code attached thereto, a bill transmittingpart for transmitting the bill for payment to a receiver of the payer,and a controller receiving information on the payers who have completeda payment from a financial institution server.

In accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, thereis provided a payment receipt system comprising: a receipt managementdatabase for managing at least information on payers who have to pay andpayment amount that the respective payers have to pay for a certainperiod; and a payee server including an information extracting part forextracting information including the information on the payers and thepayment amount from the receipt management database, a code convertingpart for converting the extracted information into a two-dimensional(2D) code, a bill forming part for making out a bill for payment withthe converted 2D code attached thereto, a bill transmitting part fortransmitting the bill for payment to a receiver of the payer, and acontroller receiving information on the payers who have completed apayment from a financial institution server via a relay server.

In accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a payment receipt system comprising: a receipt managementdatabase for managing at least information on payers who have to pay andpayment amount that the respective payers have to pay for a certainperiod; and a payee server including an information extracting part forextracting information including the information on the payers and thepayment amount from the receipt management database, a code convertingpart for converting the extracted information into a two-dimensional(2D) code, a bill forming part for making out a bill for payment withthe converted 2D code attached thereto, a bill transmitting part fortransmitting the bill for payment to a receiver of the payer, and acontroller receiving information from a management server, wherein thedata received from the management server is re-processed information ofinformation on the payer who have completed the payment, which isprovided from the financial institution server to the management servervia a relay server.

In accordance with a forth embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a payment receipt system comprising: a receipt managementdatabase for managing at least information on payers who have to pay andpayment amount that the respective payers have to pay for a certainperiod; and a payee server including an information extracting part forextracting information including the information on the payers and thepayment amount from the receipt management database, a code convertingpart for converting the extracted information into a two-dimensional(2D) code, a bill forming part for making out a bill for payment withthe converted 2D code attached thereto, a bill transmitting part fortransmitting the bill for payment to a receiver of the payer, and acontroller receiving information on the payers who have completed thepayment from a financial institution server via a relay server,providing the received information on the payers to a management server,and receiving re-processed information of the received information in acertain form from the management server.

In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when an automatedteller machine (ATM) is provided with the bill for payment and paymentmeans from the respective payers, and scans and decodes the 2D code ofthe bill, the financial institution server may implement a paymentprocess using the decoded information provided from the ATM and paymentmeans, and transfers the paid payment amount to an account of the payee.

In the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the payerinformation provided from the financial institution server to thecontroller may be either the 2D code attached to the bill for payment ordecoded information of the 2D code attached to the bill for payment.

In the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the payerinformation provided from the financial institution server to the relayserver may be either the 2D code attached to the bill for payment ordecoded information of the 2D code attached to the bill for payment.Preferably, the information provided from the relay server to thecontroller may be optionally processed in the relay server.

In the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thereceiver of the payer may be either an e-mail or mobile communicationterminal, which includes a storage section storing therein the billreceived for payment.

In the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the payment meansmay be at least one of a bankbook, a credit card, and a cash card.

In the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the financialinstitution server may further include means for identifying a user ofthe payment means.

In the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, when the payeeserver has not been provided with payer information until the paymentdue date, the payee server may further carry out a function of makingout a notice of arrears, and transmitting the notice of arrears to thereceiver of the payer.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the ATM may furtherinclude means for making out a receipt for payment when the paymentprocess has been completed by the financial institution server.

In accordance with a first embodiment of another aspect of the presentinvention, there is provided a method for payment receipt comprising thesteps of: extracting required information including information onpayers and payment amount from a receipt management database formanaging information on the payers who have to pay and the paymentamount that the respective payers have to pay for a certain period;converting the extracted information into a two-dimensional (2D) code,making out a bill for payment with the converted 2D code attachedthereto, transmitting the bill for payment to a receiver of the payer,and receiving information on the payers who have completed the paymentprocess from a financial institution server.

In accordance with a second embodiment of another aspect of the presentinvention, there is provided a method for payment receipt comprising thesteps of: extracting required information including information onpayers and payment amount from a receipt management database formanaging information on the payers who have to pay and the paymentamount that the respective payers have to pay for a certain period;converting the extracted information into a two-dimensional (2D) code,making out a bill for payment with the converted 2D code attachedthereto, transmitting the bill for payment to a receiver of the payer,and receiving information on the payers who have completed the paymentprocess from a financial institution server via a relay server.

In accordance with a third embodiment of another aspect of the presentinvention, there is provided a method for payment receipt comprising thesteps of: extracting required information including information onpayers and payment amount from a receipt management database formanaging information on the payers who have to pay and the paymentamount that the respective payers have to pay for a certain period;converting the extracted information into a two-dimensional (2D) code,making out a bill for payment with the converted 2D code attachedthereto, transmitting the bill for payment to a receiver of the payer,and receiving information a management server, wherein the informationreceived from the management server is re-processed information of theinformation on the payer who have completed the payment process, whichis provided from the financial institution server to the managementserver via a relay server.

In accordance with a forth embodiment of another aspect of the presentinvention, there is provided a method for payment receipt comprising thesteps of: extracting required information including information onpayers and payment amount from a receipt management database formanaging information on the payers who have to pay and the paymentamount that the respective payers have to pay for a certain period;converting the extracted information into a two-dimensional (2D) code,making out a bill for payment with the converted 2D code attachedthereto, transmitting the bill for payment to a receiver of the payer,receiving information on the payers who have completed the paymentprocess from a financial institution server via a relay server,providing the payer information received from the relay server, to amanagement server, and receiving re-processed information of thereceived information in a certain form by the management server.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in the paymentprocess, the steps of comparing the payment amount that the respectivepayers have to pay for a certain period among decoded information withthe total amount payable from payment means; when the payment amount isthe same as or less than the total amount, subtracting the moneycorresponding to the payment amount from payment means and displaying ascreen of the ATM a message informing of a normal completion of payment;and when the payment amount is greater than the total amount, displayingthe screen a message informing of payment disable may be carried out.

In accordance with the above constructions of the present invention,when making out a bill for payment, a procedure of assigning an OCR codefrom an authorized institution, e.g. FTCI is eliminated so that a fee tobe additionally paid to the FTCI can be saved. In addition, a bill forpayment is transmitted by wireless, wire communication means, and didnot use expensive OCR sheets and ink, so that imprinting expenses can beminimized.

Further, a procedure is eliminated, in which a financial institutionprovides FTCI with an OCR card after the payment by a payer, and theFTCI reads-out the OCR card and provides the decoded information on apayee, a payer and so on to the financial institution in return, so thatthe payment for goods or services can be provided to the payee as soonas possible.

Further, a bill for payment is transmitted using wireless, wirecommunication means, so that a payment receipt system and method can beprovided which have little risk of misdelivery and spend deliveryexpenses to the minimum.

Further, a payee can effectively obtain and sort required information ona payer, thereby saving the time and expenses required for obtaining andsorting the information. Furthermore, payer information provided to apayee is directly inter-worked with a management program, thereby savingthe time and expenses required for operating the management program.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of apayment receipt system according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of areceipt management database in the payment receipt system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of apayee server in the payment receipt system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of anautomated teller machine (ATM) in the payment receipt system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of theserver of a finatial institution in the payment receipt system of FIG.1;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating an operation between anATM and the server of a financial institution in a payment receiptsystem according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of apayment receipt system according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of apayment receipt system according to a third embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of apayment receipt system according to a forth embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, a payment receipt system and method of the invention willbe described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a payment receiptsystem according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, a payment receipt system according to the firstembodiment of the invention includes a receipt management database 10, apayee server 20, a receiver 30 of a payer, an automated teller machine(ATM) 40, and a of a financial institution server 50.

First, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the receipt management database 10consists of a payer management part 11, a payment management part 12, abill management part 13, and a payment due management part 14. The payermanagement part 11 stores personal information on the respective payers,for example, a name, an ID, a password, an address, receiver means for abill for payment, and so on. The payment management part 12 stores theamount or time that the respective payers stored in the payer managementpart 11 have used goods or services for a certain period of time,reference information of charges, and information on the payment amountto be asked the respective payers, such as an payment amount that therespective payers have to pay until the payment due, arrears amountbefore this payment due, and so on. The bill management part 13 storesinformation concerned with the bill for payment, such as the date ofissuing the bill for payment, or the notice of arrears if the payer doesnot pay the payment amount within the payment due. The payment duemanagement part 14 stores the payment date that the respective payershave promised to pay the payment due.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the payee server 20 includes an informationextracting part 21 for extracting information including payers and anpayment amount from the receipt management database 10, a codeconverting part 22 for converting the extracted information into atwo-dimensional (2D) code, a bill forming part 23 for making out a billfor payment with the converted 2D code attached thereto, a billtransmitting part 24 for transmitting the bill from the payee server 20to a receiver 30 of the payer, and a controller 25.

Accordingly, in case that a bill for payment is set to be issued, forexample, ten days before the payment due of the payer, the informationextracting part 21 of the payee server 20 extracts a list of payerswhose payment due is left 10 days from the payment due management part14 of the receipt management database 10. Further, the informationextracting part 21 extracts information required for making out the billfor the payers included in the list of payers from the payer managementpart 11 and payment management part 12 of the database 10. For example,the extracting part 21 extracts information on names, IDs, and receivermeans for the bill of the payers from the payer management part 11, andfurther extracts the payment amount that the respective payers have topay within the payment due from the payment management part 12.

Then, the code converting part 22 of the server 20 converts theextracted information on the payers, the payment amount, and the paymentdue into a two-dimensional (2D) code. The converted 2D code may be forexample, QR code, U1 code, PDF 147, and the like, but it is not limitedthereto.

Next, the bill forming part 23 of the server 20 makes out a bill forpayment onto which the 2D code formed from the code converting part 22is attached. It is preferable that in addition to the 2D code convertedby the above method, the bill for payment includes information on thepayer, the payment amount, and the payment due in text type, in orderfor the payer to easily identify whether or not the bill for payment isconcerned with him and how much amount is requested of him when he seesthe bill for payment. Also, in order for the payer to recognize the billfor payment when transmitted to the receiver 30 of the payer viawireless, wire communication network, the bill for payment may be madeout in a language suitable to a format applied to the receiver 30 of thepayer, for example, html, xhtml, mhtml, shtml, wml, and so on, but thelanguage is not limited thereto. In the first embodiment, although thebill for payment has been described to be provided to the payer inon-line method using wireless, wire communication means, the bill forpayment can be transmitted to the payer in off-line method usingconventional mail.

Then, the bill transmitting part 24 of the payee server 20 transmits thebill for payment made out by the bill forming part 23 to the receiver30. That is, the bill transmitting part 24 is connected with thereceiver 30 of the payer via wireless, wire communication network, andtransmits the bill made out by the bill forming part 23 to the receiver30. As transmitting means, communicating services such as using e-mailor mobile communication terminal can be generally utilized while usinginformation on the receivers of the respective payers who are requestedby the payers and stored in the receipt management database 10.Preferably, when the receiver 30 receives the bill and transmits areceipt message to the payee server 20, the transmitting part 24 informsthe controller 25 of the receipt message so that the controller 25stores the same in the receipt management database 10. Further, afterthe transmission of the bill for payment to the receiver 30 of thepayer, the controller 25 preferably informs the bill management part 13of transmission information, and the management part 13 records theinformation. Further, as described later, after the successful procedureof payment in the financial institution server 50, the controller 25 isprovided with information on the payers who have completed the paymentprocedure from the financial institution server 50, and records thepayer information in the payment management part 12 of the receiptmanagement database 10.

Further, the payment receipt system according to the embodiments of theinvention preferably transmits a notice of arrears to a receiver 30 ofthe payer who has not completed a payment procedure within the paymentdue.

Specifically, as described later, after the successful payment procedurein the financial institution server 50, the controller 25 is providedwith information on the payers who have completed the payment procedurefrom the financial institution server 50, and the provided informationprovided is recorded in the payment management part 12 of the receiptmanagement database 10. Then, the information extracting part 21 of thepayee server 20 extracts everyday the list of payers whose payment duehas expired the day before from the payment due management part 14 ofthe receipt management database 10. Then, the controller 25 identifiesthe payers who have not completed the payment procedure by comparing thelist of the payers with the information on the payer provided to theserver 50. Then, the information extracting part 21 extracts, from thepayer management part 11 and payment management part 12 of the database10, information on the payers who have not completed the paymentprocedure among the payers extracted from the payer management part 11,and on the unpaid amount. Similar to the above-mentioned procedure oftransmitting the bill for payment to the receiver 30, the codeconverting part 22 of the server 20 converts the list of payers who havenot paid, and information on the payers and the payment amount into a 2Dcode, the bill forming part 23 makes out a notice of arrears onto whichthe 2D code is attached, and the information transmitting part 24transmits the notice of arrears to the receiver 30. Meanwhile, althoughin this embodiment, information on payers in arrears the day before isextracted every day and the notice of arrears is made out, the notice ofarrears can be made out according to a period such as three days, aweek, two weeks and so on, that the payee may optionally determine.

Preferably, the payment receipt system according to the first embodimentmay transmit a reminder to the receiver 30 of the payer who have notcompleted the payment procedure till the certain date before the paymentdue, either instead of or together with transmitting the notice ofarrears. For example, similar to the procedure of forming the notice ofarrears, the information extracting part 21 of the payee server 20extracts every day the list of payers whose payment due will expire thenext day from the payment due management part 14 of the receiptmanagement database 10. Then, the controller 25 identifies the payer whohas not completed the payment procedure. Then, the informationextracting part 21 extracts, from the payer management part 11 andpayment management part 12 of the database 10, information on the payerswho have not yet completed the payment procedure among the payersextracted from the payment due management part 14, and on the unpaidamount. Then, the bill forming part 23 makes out a reminder of thepayment due, and transmits it to the receiver 30. The notice forinforming of the payment due is one for allowing the payers to berecognized the payment due, so that the notice may be made out in acommon document format without essentially proceeding a procedure offorming a 2D code in the code converting part 22.

Further, as the receiver 30 of the payer, e-mails, mobile communicationterminals, or PDAs may be generally used, and when a bill for payment istransmitted to the receiver 30 that is previously designated by thepayer, the receiver 30 checks the bill and stores the bill in a storageunit 35. The storage unit 35 may be a hard disk of a personal computerof the payer, a removable storage media such as a floppy disk, a storagedevice included in a mobile communication terminal.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary construction of an automated tellermachine (ATM) 40 according to a first embodiment, and FIG. 5 illustratesan exemplary construction of a financial institution server 50 accordingto a first embodiment.

In FIG. 4, the ATM 40 includes a bill contact 41, a scanner 42, adecoder 43, a receipt issuing device 44, a input device 45, and apayment means reading device 46. The bill contact 41 is a part of theATM 40 with which a bill for payment comes in contact so as for the ATMto recognize the bill, particularly, a 2D code, stored in the storageunit 35. For example, in case that a bill for payment is stored in acomputer, the bill may be printed by output means such as a printer andso on, and the 2D code portion of the printed bill may be brought intocontact with the bill contact 41. Further, in case that a bill forpayment is stored in a mobile communication terminal, a 2D code may bedisplayed on a screen of the terminal, and the screen may be broughtinto contact with the bill contact 41. The scanner 42 scans the 2D codecontacted with the bill contact 41, and provides the scanned 2D codeimage to the decoder 43. The decoder 43 decodes the scanned 2D code intoinformation on the payers, the payment amount, and the payment due. Thedecoded information is provided to the financial institution server 50,together with user information of payment means, such as bankbook,credit card, cash card, and so on, that the payer inputs via the paymentmeans reading device 46. After the completion of settlement for thepayment amount in the financial institution server 50 described later,the receipt issuing device 44 prints and outputs a receipt for allowingthe payer to be informed that a payment procedure has been successivelycompleted. The input device 45 includes an operating button and so on,and serves to input means for inputting for example, a password for useridentification.

In FIG. 5, the financial institution server 50 includes a userauthentication part 51, a payment processor 52, an account transfer part53, and an information transmitting part 54. The user authenticationpart 51 checks whether or not payment means is provided by a valid userwhen user information of payment means is provided from the ATM 40. Userauthentication method will be described later in detail. The paymentprocessor 52 of the financial institution server 50 compares the paymentamount of the payer among information decoded from the decoder 43 withthe total amount payable from payment means, and if the payment amountis the same as or less than the total amount, clears the amountcorresponding to the payment due from payment means. The accounttransfer part 53 transfers the amount of settled bill to a payee'saccount (not shown). The transfer can be done either immediately afterthe respective payers pay the payment due, or periodically (for example,daily, monthly and so on) after sorting into the amounts to betransferred to the same payee among the money paid by many payers, andputting them together. The information transmitting part 54 instructsthe receipt issuing device 44 of the ATM 40 to issue a receipt forcertificating that the payer has paid the payment. Also, after thepayment settlement, the information transmitting part 54 transmitsinformation on the payers who have paid the payment amount to thecontroller 25 of the payee server 20.

Hereinafter, an operation between the ATM 40 and the financialinstitution server 50 as constructed in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be describedwith reference to a flow chart of FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a procedure implemented in the ATM 40 and thefinancial institution server 50.

First, a first step S101 is comprised of inputting payment means such asa bankbook, a credit card, or a cash card into the payment means readingdevice 46 of the ATM 40, and simultaneously contacting a bill forpayment to the bill contact 41 of the ATM 40. Since the construction ofthe payment means reading device 46 is the same as that of aconventional cash dispenser or other bank teller machine, thedescription thereof will be omitted. The contact method may be conductedso that in case that the bill for payment is stored in a computer andthe like, the bill for payment is printed and outputted using outputmeans such as a printer, a 2D code portion of the outputted bill isbrought into contact with the bill contact 41, and in case that the billfor payment is stored in a mobile communication terminal, the 2D code isdisplayed on the screen of the terminal, and the screen is brought intocontact with the bill contact 41.

When the bill for payment is brought into contact with the bill contact41, the scanner 42 scans the 2D code part in the bill for paymentcontacted with the bill contact 41 and provides the decoder 43 withscanned 2D code image. The decoder 43 then decodes the scanned 2D codeinto information on the payer, the payment amount, and the payment due(a second step S102).

Then, the decoded information and user information on the payment meansare provided to the financial institution server 50 (a third step S103).Herein, it is not required that the payer of decoded information and theuser (i.e., a nominal person of bankbook, credit card and so on) of thepayment means should be the same person.

When the user authentication part 51 of the server 50 is provided withthe user information on payment means from the ATM 40, it is checkedwhether or not payment means is provided by the authorized user (afourth step S104). The check on the authorized user can be determinedfor example by getting a payer to input a password using an inputdevice, such as a keypad and touch screen, and checking whether or notthe inputted password is in accord with a password predetermined in thepayment means. If the password is in accord with the predeterminedpassword, a further payment process proceeds continuously, and if it isnot accord with the predetermined, the payment process does not proceedto the next step and is terminated. The known user authentication methodother than the password input can also be used as the userauthentication method of the present invention.

Then, the payment processor 52 of the financial institution server 50compares the payment amount that the payer has to pay in the decodedinformation with the total amount payable from the payment means (afifth step S105). Further, if the payment amount is the same as or lessthan the total payable amount, the payment processor may either settlethe payment amount, or preferably checks once more whether the payertruly wants to pay the payment amount by displaying a notice such as “toPress ‘enter’ button if you want to pay $OOO” after displayinginformation on the payment amount, payer, and user of payment means on ascreen of the ATM 40 (a sixth step S106). Otherwise, if the paymentamount is greater than the total payable amount, the payment processor52 preferably indicates that there is not enough money in the account ofinputted payment means to settle the payment amount, such as bydisplaying “short of money” on the screen of the ATM 40. In case ofbeing short of money, the financial institution server 50 may requestfor input of another payment means, or otherwise may terminate aprocedure. Alternatively, in case that the payable amount is less thanthe payment amount, the payee may settle up to the payable amount, andonly the remainder may be maintained as the amount unpaid.

With successful settlement, the account transfer part 53 transfers theamount of settled bill to a payee's account (not shown), and theinformation transmitting part 54 transmits information on the payers whohave paid the payment amount to the controller 25 of the payee server 20(a seventh step S107). The transfer can be done either immediately afterthe respective payers pay the payment due, or periodically (for example,daily, monthly and so on) after sorting into the amounts to betransferred to the same payee among the money paid by many payers, andputting them together.

Meanwhile, although the payer information transmitted to the controller25 may include the payment amount and basic personal informationrequired to identify the payers, all information recorded in the 2D codethat the payers provide can be provided to the controller 25 in a formatbefore or after decoding. If only basic personal information on thepayers and the payment amount is provided to the controller 25, aseparate sorting working should be done so as to check information on apaying status, arrears and so on of the respective payers. However, ifall information is inputted at once to the controller 25, it canimmediately record how much and for which item the payers have paid,without such sorting working, thereby saving the time and expenses.

After the seventh step S107, the information transmitting part 54instructs the receipt issuing device 44 of the ATM 40 to print a receiptfor payment certifying that the payer has paid the payment amount, andthe receipt issuing device 44 then prints the receipt for payment (aeighth step S108). The receipt for payment is outputted outside of theATM, so that the payer can directly receive the receipt, or if thedecoded payer information includes mobile phone number or e-mailaddress, the payer can receive the receipt for payment through themobile communication terminal or the e-mail using wireless, wirecommunication means. The eighth step S108 may be implemented before theseventh step depending on a system of the financial institution.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of apayment receipt system according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 7, like numerals refer to like parts in FIGS. 1 to 6,so that the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, in the payment receipt system according to asecond embodiment, the financial institution server 50 transmitsinformation on payer, a payment amount, a payment due and so on to therelay server 60 after the settlement by the financial institution server50. Then, the relay server 60 sorts the provided information andtransmits the sorted information to the controller 25 of the payeeserver 20. Although information provided from the financial institutionserver 50 includes only basic personal information and a payment amountof the payer, the information may preferably include all recorded in the2D code, and provide the controller with information in a state beforeor after decoding. The relay server 60 selects information which thepayee wants to obtain, such as personal details of the payer, the moneypaid, paid date, the unpaid amount if it exists, and so on, among theinformation provided from the financial institution server 50, andtransmits the selected information to the controller 25 of the payeeserver 20.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a construction of apayment receipt system according to a third embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 8, like numerals refer to like parts in FIGS. 1 to 7,so that the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Similar to the second embodiment, the payment receipt system illustratedin FIG. 8 includes a relay server 60 which receives information onpayer, a payment amount, a payment due and so on, after the settlementby the financial institution server 50. Then, the relay server 60 sortsthe provided information, and transmits the sorted information to thecontroller 25 of the payee server 20. In addition, the system furtherincludes a management server 70. The management server 70 receives allof or a portion of various information on the payers provided from thefinancial institution server 50 to the relay server 60, re-processes thereceived information in information form that the payee wants to obtain,and transmits the re-processed information to the payee server 20. Forexample, the management server 70 re-processes the amount received bythe date, payee's sales for a certain period, various accounts/taxaffairs information such as the total amount of sales tax, informationon the payers who have the great amount in arrears, and so on, using thepayer information provided from the relay server 70. Then, themanagement server 70 transmits the re-processed information to the payeeserver 20, so that the payee server can effectively manage informationon the accounts and payers.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram illustrating another construction ofthe payment receipt system according to the third embodiment of thepresent invention. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the payment receipt systemhas the same construction and function as those of FIG. 8, excludingthat payer information is provided from the relay server 60 to themanagement server 70 via the payee server 20.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with variousembodiments, they are illustrative only. Accordingly, many alternative,modifications and variations will be apparent to persons skilled in theart in light of the foregoing detailed description. The foregoingdescription is intended to embrace all such alternatives and variationsfalling with the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for payment receipt between a payeewhich provides a service and a payer which pays for the providedservice, the method comprising the steps of: extracting by a payeeserver of the payee, required information including information onpayers including the payer and payment amounts of the payers from areceipt management database for managing information on the payers whohave to pay and the payment amounts that the respective payers have topay for a certain period of time, wherein the payee server directlyissues, to the payer, a bill for payment for the service of the payee;converting by the payee server, the extracted information into atwo-dimensional (2D) code; making out by the payee server, the bill forpayment with the converted 2D code attached thereto; transmitting by thepayee server, the bill for payment with the 2D code to a receiver of thepayer; receiving by the payee server, a receipt message from thereceiver of the payer; and receiving by the payee server, processedpayer information from a relay server, wherein the relay server receivesinformation on payers who have completed a payment process and onpayments of the payers who have completed the payment process,transmitted from a financial institution server and selects informationincluding a paid amount, a paid date, and personal details of a payer,which the payee wants to obtain, among the received information therebyto provide the processed payer information to the payee server.
 2. Amethod for payment receipt between a payee which provides a service anda payer which pays for the provided service, the method comprising thesteps of: extracting by a payee server of the payee, requiredinformation including information on payers including the payer andpayment amounts of the payers from a receipt management database formanaging information on the payers who have to pay and the paymentamounts that the respective payers have to pay for a certain period oftime, wherein the payee server directly issues, to the payer, a bill forpayment for the service of the payee; converting by the payee server,the extracted information into a two-dimensional (2D) code, making outby the payee server, the bill for payment with the converted 2D codeattached thereto, transmitting by the payee server, the bill for paymentwith the 2D code to a receiver of the payer, receiving by the payeeserver, a receipt message from the receiver of the payer, receiving bythe payee server, processed payer information from a relay server,wherein the relay server receives information on payers who havecompleted a payment process and on payments of the payers who havecompleted the payment process, transmitted from a financial institutionserver, and selects information including a paid amount, a paid date andpersonal details of a payer, which the payee wants to obtain, among thereceived information thereby to provide the processed payer informationto the payee server, and receiving by the payee server, re-processedinformation from a management server, wherein the management serverreceives the information on the payers who have completed the paymentprocess and on the payments of the payers who have completed the paymentprocess from the financial institution server via the relay server, andre-processes the received information in an information form that thepayee wants to obtain thereby to provide the re-processed information tothe payee server.
 3. A method for payment receipt between a payee whichprovides a service and a payer which pays for the provided service, themethod comprising the steps of: extracting by a payee server of thepayee, required information including information on payers includingthe payer and payment amounts from a receipt management database formanaging information on the payers who have to pay and the paymentamounts that the respective payers have to pay for a certain period oftime, wherein the payee server directly issues, to the payer, a bill forpayment for the service of the payee; converting by the payee server,the extracted information into a two-dimensional (2D) code, making outby the payee server, the bill for payment with the converted 2D codeattached thereto, transmitting by the payee server, the bill for paymentwith the 2D code to a receiver of the payer, receiving by the payeeserver, a receipt message from the receiver of the payer, receiving bythe payee server, processed payer information from a relay server,wherein the relay server receives information on payers who havecompleted a payment process using the transmitted bill with the 2D codeand on payments of the payers who have completed the payment process,transmitted from a financial institution server, and selects informationincluding a paid amount, a paid date and personal details of a payer,which the payee wants to obtain, among the received information therebyto provide the processed payer information to the payee server,providing by the payee server, the processed payer information receivedfrom the relay server to a management server, and receiving by the payeeserver, re-processed payer information from the management server,wherein the management server receives the processed payer information,and re-processes the processed payer information in an information formthat the payee wants to obtain thereby to provide the re-processed payerinformation to the payee server.
 4. The method for payment receipt asclaimed in claim 1, wherein when an automated teller machine (ATM) scansand decodes the 2D code of the bill provided to the receiver of thepayer, the financial institution server implements a payment step afterreceiving the decoded information and the payment means informationprovided from the ATM, and a transfer step of transferring a paidpayment amount of the payer by the payer to an account of the payee. 5.The method for payment receipt as claimed in claim 1, wherein the payerinformation provided from the financial institution server to the relayserver is either the 2D code attached to the bill for payment or decodedinformation of the 2D code attached to the bill for payment.
 6. Themethod for payment receipt as claimed in claim 1, further comprisingmaking out a notice of arrears when a payee server has not been providedwith payer information until the payment due date, and transmitting thenotice of arrears.
 7. The method for payment receipt as claimed in claim1, wherein the payment process further comprises the steps of comparinga payment amount that the payer has to pay for a certain period amongdecoded information with a total amount payable from payment means; ifthe payment amount is the same as or less than the total amount,subtracting the money corresponding to the payment amount from paymentmeans and displaying a screen of the ATM a message informing of a normalcompletion of payment; and if the payment amount is greater than thetotal amount, displaying the screen a message informing of paymentdisable is implemented.
 8. The method for payment receipt as claimed inclaim 2, wherein when an automated teller machine (ATM) scans anddecodes the 2D code of the bill provided to the receiver of the payer,the financial institution server implements a payment step afterreceiving the decoded information and the payment means informationprovided from the ATM, and a transfer step of transferring a paidpayment amount of the payer by the payer to an account of the payee. 9.The method for payment receipt as claimed in claim 2, wherein the payerinformation provided from the financial institution server to the relayserver is either the 2D code attached to the bill for payment or decodedinformation of the 2D code attached to the bill for payment.
 10. Themethod for payment receipt as claimed in claim 2, further comprisingmaking out a notice of arrears when a payee server has not been providedwith payer information until the payment due date, and transmitting thenotice of arrears.
 11. The method for payment receipt as claimed inclaim 2, wherein the payment process further comprises the steps ofcomparing a payment amount that the payer has to pay for a certainperiod among decoded information with a total amount payable frompayment means; if the payment amount is the same as or less than thetotal amount, subtracting the money corresponding to the payment amountfrom payment means and displaying a screen of the ATM a messageinforming of a normal completion of payment; and if the payment amountis greater than the total amount, displaying the screen a messageinforming of payment disable is implemented.
 12. The method for paymentreceipt as claimed in claim 3, wherein when an automated teller machine(ATM) scans and decodes the 2D code of the bill provided to the receiverof the payer, the financial institution server implements a payment stepafter receiving the decoded information and the payment meansinformation provided from the ATM, and a transfer step of transferring apaid payment amount of the payer by the payer to an account of thepayee.
 13. The method for payment receipt as claimed in claim 3, whereinthe payer information provided from the financial institution server tothe relay server is either the 2D code attached to the bill for paymentor decoded information of the 2D code attached to the bill for payment.14. The method for payment receipt as claimed in claim 3, furthercomprising making out a notice of arrears when a payee server has notbeen provided with payer information until the payment due date, andtransmitting the notice of arrears.
 15. The method for payment receiptas claimed in claim 3, wherein the payment process further comprises thesteps of comparing a payment amount that the payer has to pay for acertain period among decoded information with a total amount payablefrom payment means; if the payment amount is the same as or less thanthe total amount, subtracting the money corresponding to the paymentamount from payment means and displaying a screen of the ATM a messageinforming of a normal completion of payment; and if the payment amountis greater than the total amount, displaying the screen a messageinforming of payment disable is implemented.
 16. The method for paymentreceipt as claimed in claim 3, wherein when an automated teller machine(ATM) scans and decodes the 2D code of the bill provided to the receiverof the payer, the financial institution server implements a payment stepafter receiving the decoded information and the payment meansinformation provided from the ATM, and a transfer step of transferring apaid payment amount of the payer by the payer to an account of thepayee.
 17. The method for payment receipt as claimed in claim 3, whereinthe payer information provided from the financial institution server tothe relay server is either the 2D code attached to the bill for paymentor decoded information of the 2D code attached to the bill for payment.18. The method for payment receipt as claimed in claim 3, furthercomprising making out a notice of arrears when a payee server has notbeen provided with payer information until the payment due date, andtransmitting the notice of arrears.
 19. The method for payment receiptas claimed in claim 3, wherein the payment process further comprises thesteps of comparing a payment amount that the payer has to pay for acertain period among decoded information with a total amount payablefrom payment means; if the payment amount is the same as or less thanthe total amount, subtracting the money corresponding to the paymentamount from payment means and displaying a screen of the ATM a messageinforming of a normal completion of payment; and if the payment amountis greater than the total amount, displaying the screen a messageinforming of payment disable is implemented.